Gonzalo Higuain is actively pushing for a January switch to Chelsea which would benefit all parties, writes Nick Valerio.

The winter rumour mill has gone into overdrive with one name at the forefront: Gonzalo Higuain.

Having spent the majority of the summer season making it publicly known they were searching for an elite forward, Milan ultimately signed the Argentine on a year-long loan from Juventus that cost €18m. The Rossoneri were dealt setback after setback in their quest, with former player Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the first to turn down the Diavolo’s advances, while Monaco skipper Radamel Falcao chose to remain in France. Meanwhile, Torino captain Andrea Belotti was considered, but his loss of form and injury woes cooled Milan’s interest.

Step forward Higuain. The ex-Napoli hotshot was the victim of Cristiano Ronaldo’s astonishing transfer from Real Madrid, a deal which Milan helped facilitate as they took the Argentine off the Bianconeri wage bill in their desperate bid to sign a Number 9.

While Higuain was harshly cast aside by his parent club, and begrudgingly approved the move to San Siro, the expectation was he would still have a productive campaign. For all his critics, the forward has consistently been a guarantee of 20+ goals a term and while they had problems in other areas of the pitch, this was a real coup for Milan to land a striker with such pedigree.

Unfortunately, for both the 31-year-old and club, the move has gone horribly wrong. A record of eight strikes from 20 appearances isn’t the worst return, but the warning signs have been visible ever since Max Allegri’s men visited Milan in mid-November.

A mild-mannered and calm character, Higuain saw the red mist and received his marching orders, firstly fouling former team-mate Medhi Benatia, then berating the referee and earning a second yellow. This was all after the early drama of missing a penalty.

Higuain has not been the same since, netting just once from 10 games.

Boss Gennaro Gattuso has, for the most part, defended the attacker, but is aware of this desire to cut his spell short and it speaks volumes that the Diavolo legend has made little effort to dissuade him.

The South American knows he’s in demand. Following Maurizio Sarri’s appointment at Chelsea last July, it was widely reported Higuain was top of the Italian’s shopping list. The move of course failed to materialise, but both men appear likely to get their wish of linking up again due to the Blues’ barren form in front of goal.

Chelsea sit in fourth place in the Premier League, but this is mainly due to the brilliance of Eden Hazard, and the Belgian is unable to bail the Londoners out singlehandedly on a weekly basis. Leading forward Alvaro Morata can’t handle the goalscoring burden, while deputy Olivier Giroud is out of favour with Sarri, and both have flattered to deceive.

Enter Higuain, who has the upmost respect for Sarri and vice-versa. The former banker was given credit by the South American in 2016, as the hotshot hit a whopping 36 Serie A goals, breaking a 69-year record in the process.

If Higuain does end up at the Bridge, Milan do have options. Either back youngster Patrick Cutrone, an Italy international, to see out the remaining four months or go all out for Timo Werner with the Rossoneri able to offer the German top billing and an attractive salary.

With respect to current club RB Leipzig, Werner would likely jump at the chance if Milan made their move, but much depends on shipping out Higuain in a transfer that would suit Milan, Sarri and the crisis-hit Argentine.

@maldini heirThird best team and that is the reason they Serie A is so embarrassing and the reason Juve will win the next 10 supercups and leagues. Change your name your tarnishing a legend with your ridiculous comments. Third in the league i am embarrassed for you! I mean you come on here saying 'if Juve had these players they'd be winning' that is the phrase that made me lose the 1% of respect i had for you. Support your team is one thing but be real Milan are 'third' in 10th ranked league!

on the 17th January, 2019 at 10:07am

Maldini's Heir

@ Jeremy Stop being silly. Milan were the joint 3rd best team in Serie A in 2018 in points accrued. They accrued the same number of points as Inter and only less than Napoli and Juve. I'm not interested in world class players. By definition there's only a limited number of world class players so the focus needs to be in making the most of what we have. Juve won the title with Matri and Quagliarella upfront. Real life is not like computer games.

on the 16th January, 2019 at 11:53pm

Anonymous

Thanks Jeremy hahahhahaha

on the 16th January, 2019 at 1:13pm

Jeremy

@Maldini HeirYou're worse than Viktor. 'Stick with a consistent squad' the only consistent thing about this squad is how rubbish they are, whats the point in sticking with a bunch of half-wits who sre overated and fail weekly?! They may aswell just buy more and more and hope 1 or them actually turns out to be a decent player. 'We', i say 'we' loosely these days as Milan and Serie A is simply embarrassing, have not 1 single world class player and the whole Milan set up is total BS.

on the 16th January, 2019 at 5:48am

Jeremy

ViktorYou're like Teresa May you just don't know when to give in the argument and just see that you are fighting a losing battle. I come on here every 2 or 3 months and without fail you are on here arguing some needless point about Milan having all these future plans, accept Milan are finished, years have past and your still here hoping something is going to happen.I really admire your deluded hope. It's actually comical.

on the 16th January, 2019 at 5:39am

Jeremy

Get rid. He's overated and needs world class playmakers around something Milan simply don't have. We also don't need Fellani so they can stop monitoring him.

on the 16th January, 2019 at 5:32am

AC Milan Fan

With all due respect to those defending the "star signing" Higuain, 18m for a 1 year loan followed by another 36m at age 32, despite his record, is not smart business. He is not Ronaldo. Ronaldo is in another universe and is one of a handful of players in history that justify such an outlay at that age. Higuain is not one of them. If he's not receiving the consistent and pinpoint service that he's had in prior world class squads he does nothing. Ronaldo can create his own chances from anywhere.

on the 15th January, 2019 at 2:44pm

Anonymous

What you really mean to say vicky is that you hope and wish milan players and club will be relevant again. You hope and wish your next group of players will magically make your team better hahaha. You clutching at straws buddy and should have nothing to say. Your club is now officially mediocre and nobody cares about them anymore. In 2 years juve will be winng their 10th title in a row and you will be thinking about, your new hope hahahahah haaaaaaa!!!!!!

on the 15th January, 2019 at 12:51pm

Anonymous

@vicky milan has been garbage for the past 8 years and you talking about the next 2 hahahahahha are you insane hahaha i wouldnt go there if i were you buddy. In the next two years you might still have montolivo. @ Maldinis blah blah blah as usual, enough from you hahahah now you just talking nonsense. Your players are lame buddy, the end. Stop comparing them to juve and always talking about juve that was always miles ahead. Start supportin inter,yieven those losers seem to be a little better off

on the 15th January, 2019 at 12:43pm

viktor

@Giancarlo C's Mom

Considering

A. We will get Caldara back from Injury soon. Conti is already back (pretty great cross to Cutrone against Samp would you agree..)B. We will most likely get Piatek, which if that takes place will be such a steal. C. We have a extremely young and promising team, while Juve clearly have a superior one, you have tons of core players who are getting too old to keep up

So... conclusion.. give it a season or two, then we'll see who's laughing.

on the 15th January, 2019 at 9:22am

Maldini's Heir

Serie A (although as always don't expect him to produce the same form as when he played at Juve). It'd be interesting to do an experiment and swap the Milan squad wiht the Juve squad. I bet you Juve would still stroll to a 7th straight Scudetto.

on the 15th January, 2019 at 2:00am

Maldini's Heir

forget about all of the wheeling and dealing this transfer window and simply consolidate what we have. That means doing whatever we need to do to convince Higuain to stay and generally keeping the side that picked up 70 Serie A points in 2018, the same number as Inter and fewer only than Juventus and Napoli. If Higuain does leave (and he shouldn't be allowed to because he's under contract) then we need a like-for-like replacement. A swap with Morata would at least give us a player familiar with

on the 15th January, 2019 at 1:59am

Maldini's Heir

transfer window to the next. I don't really care about Higuain or Silva or Kalinic (actually he was always going to be rubbish) or any of the other plethora of strikers Milan have gone through in the past few years. None of them have hung around long enough to be judged. Cutrone offers a long term solution and it seems like he'll stick around as long as he's not buried 4 strikers deep in our massively oversized squad of 30 players. At this stage for no reason other than stability Milan should

on the 15th January, 2019 at 1:54am

Maldini's Heir

mediocre and back to world beater in the space of 2 years. What a roller coaster that was. I don't think we need any more evidence of the difference that playing for Milan v Juve has on players' (and indeed Allegri's) performances. In the case of Higuain you could talk about service but what was Bonucci's excuse? The major difference between Juve and Milan is tranquility. Whereas the former club has gone through gradual changes over time the latter can barely keep a squad together from one

on the 15th January, 2019 at 1:25am

Maldini's Heir

It's more chaos and disruption. Milan cannot seem to stick with a consistent squad. Every transfer window just brings more change. Higuain was supposed to be this summer's star signing (swapped for the previous season's star signing Bonucci).He hasn't even made it to Christmas. Note how both Bonucci and Higuain came from the BEST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD aka Juve 2011-2019. They went from world beaters to mediocre over night apparently. In the case of Bonucci he went from world beater to

on the 15th January, 2019 at 1:21am

a Varsavia

I can't believe in Timo Werner moving to Italy. Well, if it was Juve...Why not to get Alvaro Morata then?

on the 15th January, 2019 at 12:00am

Juve Kenya

Let him go. let him go. Milan and jive should look further afield.

on the 14th January, 2019 at 11:19pm

FERBAN

Yet another in the long line of mediocre/embarrassing seasons for Milan is playing out all over again.

When was the last time this club wasn't a mess? Especially when you think about how well they were generally run up to 2006.

If he wants to go, Juve should really try and sell him outright to Chelsea. They are desperate for a forward and easily dumb enough to pay an inflated fee.

Not sure how Milan can offer Werner "top billing" either. Milan can't offer top billing to any player now.

on the 14th January, 2019 at 10:06pm

I MISS MARCO BRANCA

If Fernando Torres lasts longer than Higuain in a Milan jersey then that is sad because how can you get back to Champions league if you can't keep your star players.

on the 14th January, 2019 at 9:17pm

paolo

how does losing a striker mid season without a replacement benefit milan at all come on this is ridiculous he has 6 months left on his contract at milan unless milan get some sought of benefit from juve or chelsea to let him go.

I do agree he is probably better off at chelsea and milan without higuain he clearly isn't the striker milan needs for a variety of reasons however for all his faults he is a top quality striker.

on the 14th January, 2019 at 8:20pm

AC Milan Fan

He won't leave because stupid Gattuso wants to keep him. Higuain, the prima donna. He did the same to Napoli. If someone isn't holding his hand... meanwhile homegrown Cutrone continues to score goals off the bench. It's classic Milan, overpaying for old has-beens and wasting homegrown talent. Aubameyang, Astori, Cristante, Locatelli...the more things change the more they stay the same. Maybe Uncle Fester is still secretly running the club through old boys Leonardo and Gattuso...

on the 14th January, 2019 at 8:10pm

Sulzano

If only Chelsea made a bid in the summer this whole mess would have been avoided and Juve wouldn't have had to bring back Bonucci.

on the 14th January, 2019 at 6:23pm

Jad

Without a decent replacement, no!!!! Who could possibly replace him during this transfer window!? Piatik? Won't come. No alternatives. Keep him till end of season. He is still a top striker who could sneak us into the top 4.

on the 14th January, 2019 at 5:17pm

AnonMilan

If he's not happy & wants out, let him go; presuming any deal appeases the 18mil outlay for the loan. A replacement would also be a must; I'm a big Cutrone fan but another top striker is needed to share the burden of responsibility, help him develop and as an alternative for rotation or in case of injury. Regardless, Milan have bigger issues. Higuain's lack of goal return isn't his sole responsibility; he isn't getting service where he needs it & frequently has to drop too deep to be effective.

on the 14th January, 2019 at 4:41pm

Giancarlo C's Mom

Wow! Caldara is still injured and now Higuain wants to leave... Hahahahahahaha............. Poor Milan fans.

Giancarlo do you see this???? Giancarlo the big loser from goal dot com. Are you dead yet? Hahahahahahaha..... LOSER! XD

on the 14th January, 2019 at 4:38pm

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